NEXT YEAR
PAUL GREEN !
TOMORROW
! JUNIOR-SENIOR !
Z 541
VOL. XX.
WINSTON-SALEM, N. C, FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 1940.
Number 23.
PLANS PROCEED FOR MAY DAY
COURTESY JOURNAI.-SENTINEI.
A chairman (Gracie Gillespie) and assistant chairman (Eve Tomlin-
gon)—Here they are at work on writing the pageant for May Day
and planning other details for costumes and properties and dances
and so forth.
STORY OF OLD & NEW MAY DAY
In 1927 Salem had its first May
Day Kolcbration, with formal exer
cises on lower campus. In the past
thirteen years this occasion has be
come one of the outstanding tradi
tions at Salem, and in another two
weeks wo will be on the very verge
‘ of witnessing a new and lovely May
Day.
In HW7 Cordelia Lowry (Bedford,
Va.) reigned O ’er cooks, gardeners,
oysters, hedgehogs, ladies and gen
tlemen, courtiers, May-polp dancers,
and executioners. Alice in Wonder
land, the King and Queen and
Knave of Hearts with the royal
children, Tweedle-Dum and Twecdle-
Dce, the Duchess and the Mat Hat
ter, a carpenter, and four animals—
a white rabbity a walrus, a doof-
mouse, and a March hare—were the
individual actors in the pageant.
In 1938 ]\ray Day, with Margaret
Briggs as general chairman and Vir
ginia Ijce as queen, was on a Gre
cian plan—costumes, scenes, story,
all but language.
The pageant last year, written by
Mary Turner Willis, was a May Day
scene on a Southern plantation.
Th(“re were graceful Virginia-reelers,
pickaninnies and negro mammies, be
sides the usual May-pole dancers.
Last May Bill Fulton, now ilrs. F.
L. Lilley, reigned as the queen.
This year’s May Day, with Grace
Gilllespie’s skill and originality and
Louisa Sloan's beauty and majesty,
is to be in the form of a Gay Nine
ties Eeview. The pageant in the aft
ernoon w’il be followed in the eve
ning by an I. R. S. dance which can
not be surpassed in interest and fun,
even by Junior-Senior.
Any one who has not been *' behind
scones” before Jilay Day can never
realize the endless w'ork and energy
and time and thought and trouble
that must go into this hour of enter
tainment for the 5000 people that
watch Salem’s May Day each year.
There are seven main committees
that actually plan for the celebra
tion, besides the pageant committee
itself and several others that do
their work throughout the year.
Shortly before May, the committees
for music, costumes, dances, flowers,
properties, and dresses must have
their work completed; and on May
Day the program committee presents
the fruits of its labor.
Of course everything centers on
the pageant, and it must be finished
long beforehand. Grace Gillesipe and
Eve Tomlinson wrote it this year,
and from all indications it will be
unusually interesting and colorful.
The main characters in the pageant
are Grandfather, Wyatt Wilkinson;
Grandmother, Leo Rice; and their
two young grandchildren, Patty Mc-
Neely and Lib Tuten. Since Grand
mother had been May Queen at
Salem exactly fifty years ago in
1890, the old couple come back to
Salem to entertain the queen and
her court with pictures from their al
bum filled with scenes taken in their
youth. The pictures come to life and
perform various dances ip front of
the queen. These dances will be done
by Gay Ninety Bathing Beauties,
w'altzors, and Can-Can dancers. Eve
Tondinson and Kelly Ann Smith
will represent Grandmother and
Grandfather in younger days, on
their “Bicycle Built for Two.”
The music this year will be selec
tions from typical, familiar Gay-
Ninety songs. Salem’s Choral En
semble is to sing the May Day carol
at the end of the pageant, and the
college orchestra with Sarah Linn
and Margaret Vardell at the pianos
will furnish the instrumental music.
The Home Economics Club is mak
ing the twelve costumes for the
girls in the May Polo Dance, in ad
dition to those to be worn by the
Can-Can Dancers and the members
of the Barber Shop Quartet.
When we think of the pageant cos
tumes, we think, too, of the court
dresses. Louisa Sloan’s dress will be
of white paper-taffeta w'ith long leg-
of-mutton sleeves, sweetheart neck,
bustle, and eleven-yard train. Vera
Mae Lanning w'ill wear a dress of
yellow mousseline da soie, made in
typical Gay-Ninety style. The court
will also wear mousseline de soie,
with bustle, sw^eetheart neck, and el-
bow-length leg-of-mutton sleeves.
Those dresses were designed by Nell
Curtis Kerns, Grace Gilespie, and
Eve Tomlinson, and were made by
Montaldo’s.
The unsung heroes, the chairmen
of the various committees are—Eve
Tomlinson, vice chairman; Betsy
Hobby, dances; Nell Korns, dresses;
Elizabeth Norfleet, costumes; Jane
Alice Dilling, programs; Anne Mew-
borne, publicity; Gladys Blackwood,
Wee Blue Inn; Ella Walker Hill,
flowers; Esther Alexander, proper
ties; Margaret Patterson, nomina
tions; Sarah Linn, music.
With this brief resume, we can
catch only a glimpse of the excite
ment lying in store for us, but we
know it will be worth waiting the
next two weeks for.
PHILADELPHIA
SYMPHONY TO
PLAY HERE
On Wednesday evening, April 24,
the final Civic Music Concert of the
current season will take place at
8:30 o’clock, when the Philadelphia
Symphony Orchestra, conducted by
Eugene Ormandy, will play in Rey
nolds’ Auditorium.
This will be a unique occasion for
Salem College, for the highlight of
the evening will be the orchestra’s
performance of Dean Vardell’s Caro
linian Symphony. The other numbers
are Variations of a Theme by Haydn
(Brahms), Daphnis et Chloe (Ravel)
and Romeo and Juliet Fantasy—
Overture (Tschaikowsky).
This orche.stra consists of 100 men.
One of the violinists is a Polish
Buddhist who speaks Chinese fluent
ly and hopes to be the High Lama
in an Asiatic Monastery. Also in the
violin section are two former gen
erals who fought on opposite sides
during the World War. In addition,
the orchestra includes five di.stin-
guished philatelists, a ship’s captain,
a famous cook, an author, and a
double-bass player who has the larg
est collection of double-basses ■ in
the world.
Ormandy, the conductor, comes
from an intensely musical family in
Budapest, Hungary. When he w'as
three, he was taken to a concert by
a well-known violinist. He was told
to keep his mouth shut, but he
blurted out, “You played an F-sharp
instead of F. ” After the concert, he
was taken backstage to make his
apologies. The violinist, however, in
sisted on thanking the child critic.
He started violin study at the age
of three, and at five became the
youngest pupil ever registered in the
Royal Academy of Budapest. At six
teen he received his diploma, and
the next year he became a professor.
He made a successful series of tours
as a violin virtuoso and came to
-\merica in 1921. Since his arrival
here ho has steadily risen as a con
ductor and has been with the Phila
delphia Orchestra since 193f5, when
he was appointed co-conductor with
Stokowski.
PIERREHES
Tonight at 8:00 the Pierrette
Players will present “Sanctuary,”
competing with the young people’s
players from Centenary Church and
the Little Theatre in tho city-wide
one-act play contest. This contest is
sponsored by the Winston-Salem
Recreation Department at Reynolds’
Auditorium.
“Sanctuary” was given last week
end for Hospitality Day, as part of
the day’s program for Salem guests.
The setting of tho play is in a con
vent in France during the French
Revolution. The cast: Mother Marie,
Barbara Plummer; Sister Francois,
Margaret Ray; Sister Ann, Agatha
Walker; Madomoiselle Cice, Kath-
arine King; Margaret, Lee Rice;
Cityonne Kern, Jackie Ray; the Wi-
dow% Elizabeth Tuten.
STUDENT GOV’T
OFFICERS ELECTED
Elections for student council offi
cers were brought to a close with
the announcement of Patty McNee-
ly, of Mooresville, for on-campus
vice-pres.; Sue Forrest, of Winston-
Salem, as off-campus vice-pres.; Lei
la Johnston, of Barium Springs, for
secretary of the council; and Eu
genia Baynes, another Winston girl,
for treasurer.
These well-qualified new officers
will be installed at the beginning of
the next school year.
GREEN PLANS
SALEM DRAMA
Paul Green, North Carolina’s
greatest playwright, this week made
public the consideration of tentative
plans for the presentation in 1941
in Winston-Salem of a musical dra
ma in celebration of the 175th an
niversary of the founding of the
city.
The pageant will be based on the
first settlement of this area by the
Moravians.
“It can be bigger and better than
‘The Lost (,'olony’,” Green said. “It
should become the great American
Passion Play.”
“While ‘The Lost Colony’ was
first a portrayal of the search for
political freedom, this new drama
will show first the search for relig
ious and spiritual freedom.”
Tentative plans call for musical
score and arrangements by Dr.
Charles G. Vardell, head of the
Salem College School of Mu.sic,
whose recent ‘ ‘ The Carolinian ’ ’
symphony has received nation-wide
acclaim.
Green said he understood the con
struction of an outdoor theatre, pos
sibly on the back campus of Salem
College, is under consideration. The
drama would be shown in this am
phitheatre in performances lasting
for months, perhaps even for years.
“The Lost Colony” has run three
consecutive summers.
Although no organized group has
been formed to sponsor the proposal,
it is understood a large number of
citizens and civic leaders are inter
ested.
Green returned to Chapel Hill
from Williamsburg, Va., Tuesday,
where he had been working on plans
for a drama in that city.
He said that nowhere in the South
were the dramatic and musical pos
sibilities so great as in Winston-
Salem. Green visualizes a choir of
hundreds, accompanied by a band, a
cast “the finest dramatic talent in
America.”
The playwright said he discussed
the plan with a distingui.shed New
York play director while he was in
Williamsburg and the director was
most enthusiastic.
jUNIORW
DANCE PLANS
COMPLHED
Saturday promises to be a full day
for Salem’s upperclassmen, when
the .lunior Class will honor its elder
class at the annual Junior-Senior
danccs. Everything is near comple
tion, the orchestra is by this time
practically on its way, and pale bil
lowy dance dresses are parading up
and down the halls on Clewell’s sec
ond floor and in Senior! Prospects
of arriving dates are also eviden.t
in the faces of about a hundred
Salem lassies.
In the afternoon when the bell
rings the festivities will begin.
The tea danqe in the gym—for
which mysterious decorations have
been floating around for the pa.st
several day.s—will last from four ’til
six. From then ’til nine o’clock,
when the nights’ formal dancing
will begin, girls and boys will scat
ter far and wide for dinner parties
being planned by several private
groups.
i The night’s dance will be by card
and during intermission refresh
ments will be served in the recre
ation room of Louisa Bitting Build
ing.
The presidents of the two classes
will lead the figure to take place
during the evening and will be fol
lowed by class officers and repre
sentatives. Those in the figure will
be: Patty McNeely with Bill Alex
ander, Mooresville; Agnes Loo Car
michael with Johnny McBride, Che-
raw, S. C., Julia McCorkle with Ed
Salmons, Winston-Salem; Eve Tom
linson with .Tim Swain, Winston-
Salem; Elizabeth Norfleet with Nor-
nmn Bennett, Winstorf-Salem; Lil
lian Lanning with Rockwell Deaton,
Mooresville; Ruth Schnedl with
Frank Morgan, West Point, Ga.;
Sarah Linn with Lane Cox Drye,
Landin, N.C.; Louisa Sloan with Jim
Dorsett, Salisbury; Mary .\nn Pas
chal with Charlie Reece, Winston-
Salem; Mildred Kelly with Clayton
Moore, Winston-Salem; Nell Kerns
with Sam Hayworth, Asheboro; Eliz
abeth Tuten with Louie Propst, Lake
(Continued On Pago 4)
STUDENT GOV’T HEADS ELECTED
—JOUnN^AIi-SBNTIXEL STAI-T VTrOTO
!
LEILA JOHNSTON
fitTGENiA BAYNES